Thursday, 30 January 2014

Daphne Oram

We have also sound-houses, where we practise and demonstrate all
sounds, and their generation. We have harmonies which you have not, of
quarter-sounds, and lesser slidesof sounds. Divers instruments of music likewise to you unknown, some
sweeter than any you have, together with bells and rings that are dainty
and sweet. We represent small sounds as great and deep; likewise great
sounds extenuateand sharp; we make divers tremblings and warblings of sounds, which in their original
are entire. We represent and imitate all articulate sounds and letters,
and the voices and notes of beasts and birds. We have certain helps
which set to the ear do further the hearing greatly. We have also divers
strange and artificial echoes, reflecting the voice many times, and as
it were tossing it: and some that give back the voice louder than it
came, some shriller, and some deeper; yea, some rendering the voice
differing in the letters or articulate sound from that they receive. We
have also means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in strange lines
and distances. Francis Bacon (1561–1626) , The New Atlantis

Daphne Oram was fascinated by this passage from The New Atlantis. While working as a sound engineer for the BBC in the 1940s, she had composed a number of pieces and begun to experiment with the creation of making music using tape recorders. Along with a colleague, she founded the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1958. She didn't stay long, leaving to set up an independent electronic music operation. One of her most intriguing contribution to electronic music was the creation of the "Oramics Machine" - an electronic device which could convert drawings of soundwaves on strips of 35mm film into sound.

Oram has acquired something of a cult following.A Youtube search for her name yields a lot more hits than many more prominent "mainstream" composers active in the last seventy years (composers who featured far more prominently in the book which inspired this series of posts). Her
reputation says something about the ways the musical world has changed -
both in terms of its boundaries and what is included within them.

A very informative and well-researched post. I was completely ignorant about her work. For me, having been born and raised in a household with a lot of music constantly being played, it's always amazing to see the creative power some composers have. Many thanks.

Terrific! Thanks for this Dominic. I certainly will go and see the Science Museum exhibition and try out the drawings-into-sounds gadget. Oddly enough, years ago my book 'Designing with Natural Forms' (Batsford) has some photos of waves in a tray of water which I turned into a musical score, meant to be sung by a choir. I never pursued this and knew nothing about Oram or electronic music - would love to play with that now! Can I send you a copy of the book or the page so you might have a go with it? Send me an email with your address?

Natalie: I'd love to see it - and see what I could (or couldn't!) do! I don't have and can't find your email address. I have sent my details in a Message ("Messages", left sidebar) to your Facebook page, which I see you say you don't use often - so I thought I'd flag it up here!

I read your FB message Dominic, thanks. Will send you the book and explain! My email address is on the bottom of the right-hand sidebar at my main website:http://www.nataliedarbeloff.com/blaugustine.html

Since my iMac breakdown the website is stuck on that pre-Christmas post so I'm only blogging on Blogger for the time being.

This is fascinating, Dominic. I hadn't heard of her, how wonderful. And Bird of Parallax has me wondering if she makes an appearance in Sinéad Morrissey's T. S. Eliot winning poetry collection, which I'm itching to buy.